ASSEMBLY URGED TO SUMMON FATTY, SANYANG OVER $48M LAB PROJECT
In the wake of the ongoing controversy over a supposed Us48 million police forensic laboratory project reportedly signed by former Interior Minister Mai Fatty in 2017, details of which his current successor Abdoulie Sanyang said is not found anywhere, Human rights activist Madi Jobarteh has now urged the National Assembly to summon both men to clarify.
Fatty signed the contract agreement with a purported project partner from Senegal, one Dr Cheikh Tidiane Sy, saying it would be a state-of-the-art forensic and scientific DNA laboratory and a DNA database centre, the first and best of its kind in Africa.
A decade later, last week, the current Interior Minister Abdoulie Sanyang informed the National Assembly that there is no trace of the project.
Though Mai Fatty has since shed light on his role in the mysterious project, claiming that it never advanced beyond the signing stage, Madi Jobarteh said the Assembly should go further and summon the duo together to further clarify.
Jobarteh said what makes this necessary is that the Gambian public witnessed an official state ceremony presided over by a cabinet minister where government resources were deployed, public statements made and national expectations raised.
“Mai Fatty did not leave office the day after signing the agreement. How then can he now casually claim that the project never progressed beyond the signing ceremony? What happened the next day, the following week, the following month, and throughout the remainder of his tenure as minister? Why would a government sign such a high-profile project only to allow it to die immediately on the signing table?”Jobarteh asked.
He said even more troubling is the claim that there is now “no trace of the agreement or related documents”.
According to Jobarteh, either someone is concealing those records, or gross negligence occurred in preserving official state documents, or the entire exercise was nothing more than a public relations spectacle devoid of substance.
“Mai Ahmad Fatty owes the nation answers. To whom did he hand over the signed documents? Is he saying he cannot identify a single office, department, desk, or official that received custody of the agreement? Does he have a personal copy, correspondence, briefing notes, or records relating to the project? Did he prepare handing-over notes for his successor, and if so, was this project mentioned?” Jobarteh asked.
He added that the current minister Abdoulie Sanyang too must answer serious questions.
“Is he claiming that he received no handing-over notes when he assumed office? Is he saying that neither the Ministry of Interior nor the Gambia Police Force possesses any records relating to a project that was publicly launched by the government?” he asked.
Jobarteh noted that by 2017, the current minister Abdoulie Sanyang was already a senior police officer and may well have been aware of, or even be present at the signing ceremony of that project. “Is he now saying that across the entire Ministry and police establishment, no one can locate a single document relating to this supposedly landmark initiative?” Jobarteh, CEO of the Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice told The Standard yesterday.
Source: The Standard
